Indian commandos were dropped by helicopter on the roof of the besieged Jewish center in Mumbai as Indian snipers at the site opened fire early Friday morning. Heavily armed Indian commandos rappelled from helicopters onto the roof of the "Chabad" center in what television reports said was an assault by the paramilitary National Security Guard to flush out the Muslim militants.
A top army general said on Friday morning that anti-terrorist operations in Mumbai should be over within a few hours. The comments by Lt. Gen. N. Thamburaj came shortly after the commando operation against terrorists inside the Chabad center started.
Meanwhile, guests trapped by the militants in a luxury hotel were being evacuated room by room on Friday as the end of a siege appeared imminent. Guests emerged from the Trident-Oberoi hotel and were escorted into waiting buses and cars.
Police said 93 guests had been evacuated so far.
On his part, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pinned blame for the attacks on militant groups based in India's neighbours, usually an allusion to Pakistan. He warned of "a cost" if these nations did not take action to stop their territory being used to launch such attacks.
